56 



PINACE^. 



nurseries ; but I think Tvhen once vre can obtain a supply of seed from 

 some of the many noble yonng specimens which are now beginning to 

 develop themselves in this country, such modus operandi will be less 

 necessary. Its present native habitat may be said to be the Himalayas, 

 where it is found on elevations ranging up to as high, as twelve thou- 

 sand feet j attaining heights of from one hundred to two hundred feet, 

 with a twenty to forty feet girth of trunk. But the Devadara — the 

 Queen of Cedars, no doubt in former ages of the world's history occu- 

 pied a wide range of native habitats, as I have already indicated from 

 ancient literature; and I may here further add in corroboration of 

 this my theory that geology has now demonstrated the fact that in her 

 fossil beds has been ensconced for ages the ligneous tissue of Deodara^ 

 but not of Himalayan growth ; but the fabric produced by it in other 

 countries and other climes, coeval with or antecedent to the days when 

 there were giants, when Xoah built the ark, and Adam was on earth. 



As a timber tree it is in every respect, and all things considered, 

 fully entitled to take first-class rank ; as an ornamental one it has no 

 superior ; and only such kinds as Araucaria Imbricaia^ Gigantabies 

 Wellingtoniana and Picea Nolilis can be classed amongst its 

 compeers. 



There are several varieties and sub- varieties of the Deodar ; the 

 onlv forms, however, which I consider as worthv of conunenclation are — 

 Argeniea^ (silvery- variegated,) Aurea, (golden-variegated,) Crassifolia^ 

 (thick-leaved,) Fastigiata, (fastigiate-branched,) Prostratct, (dwarf 

 spreading,) Robust a, (strong-branched,) and Viridis, (very green- 

 leaved :) all of which are more or less beautiful and useful as orna- 

 mental plants, but of no economic value as timber trees. 



CeDRUS LibANI : The Lebanon Cedar. 



This is said to be the patriarch of the family, and its general ap- 

 pearance and deportment argues strongly in favour of such an assump- 

 tion ; for it is a remarkable senile-like monarch; but its greatness was 

 at first obtained by mistaken identity for the prototypical cedar ; so the 

 ex-monarch Lihani has been legitimately dethroned, and must hence- 

 forth take rank as a subject of the true prototype — the reigning sovereign 

 of the cedars. Queen Deodara, 



The timber of the Lebanon is in every respect vastly inferior to that 

 of the Deodar ; and is, even, far surpassed by that of the Mount Atlas 

 Cdear. The Cedar of Lebanon was introduced into this country from 

 the Levant nearly two centuries ago, and has been somewhat* exten- 

 sively planted in Britain as an ornamental tree; and many fine 



